The New York Mets defeat the Miami Marlins in Jose Reyes return

The New York Mets defeated the Miami Marlins by the score of 2-1 on Tuesday night. It was the return of Jose Reyes to flushing as he signed a free agent contract with the Marlins this past winter. I would say that he got more boos then cheers although it was mixed. There wasn’t a very big crowd either though in attendance. Johan Santana started for the Mets and pitched brilliantly. Josh Johnson started for the Marlins and pitched well. Daniel Murphy had two hits to lead the Mets. The Marlins only managed three hits, Reyes was 0-4 in his return. 
Santana pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up three hits and one run with two walks and 11 strikeouts. Ramon Ramirez faced one batter and retired him, Jon Rauch recorded his third win of the season pitching a perfect inning and Frank Francisco earned his fourth save. Francisco pitched an inning walking a batter. Johnson pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up three hits and one run with a walk and nine strikeouts. The Marlins used five relievers and had mixed results. They pitched pretty well for the most part but Mike Dunn got charged with a blown save and Edward Mujica took the loss. Dunn pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a walk and striking out one and Mujica pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and a run with a strikeout.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a hit, Murphy had two hits and David Wright had a hit. Lucas Duda had a hit, RBI and drew a walk, Justin Turner drew a walk and Scott Hairston drew a walk. Josh Thole had a hit, RBI and drew a walk, he had a double. The Mets were 1-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

Emilio Bonifacio had a hit for the Marlins. Hanley Ramirez drew a walk, Logan Morrison drew a walk and Mike Stanton had a hit. Gaby Sanchez had a hit and an RBI and John Buck drew a walk. Sanchez had a double, the Marlins were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Ramirez had a stolen base.

In the seventh the Marlins took a 1-0 lead on a Sanchez RBI double. The Mets quickly responded in the bottom of the inning. The Mets first two batters were retired and then four straight walks tied the game at one. Thole had the RBI walk and then in the eighth Duda had an RBI single. That turned out to be the game winning hit as 2-1 was the final score.

The Mets improved their record to 9-8 and the Marlins dropped to 7-9. The win ruined Reyes return to New York. He had a tough day with no hits in four at bats. The two teams will play game two of their three game series tomorrow night. The series will conclude with a Thursday afternoon game. The Mets got the win but also an important thing was Santana bouncing back from his horrible start last time out. He was brilliant tonight and that should help calm some fears especially on a day when two players went on the disabled list. Jason Bay has a fracture in his ribs and Mike Pelfrey has an elbow issue that could be serious. The Mets needed a win like this to change the subject and Santana pitching so well definitely helps also.